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| Kathua case: SC refuses to gag campaign in favour of accused | | Defence lawyer seeks CBI probe | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, July 9: The Supreme Court of India on Monday gave two rulings in the Kathua rape and murder case. While it ordered the transfer of the accused from Kathua district jail to Gurdaspur district jail in Punjab, the apex court refused to pass any gag order to stop campaigns in favour of the accused.
The apex court rejected the plea of the J&K Crime Branch, which is handling the case, that people in Jammu, including the former BJP minister Lal Singh, Advocates Ankur Sharma and AK Sawhney and others defending the accused had not only been bringing in the public domain what had been transpiring in the Pathankot court, which is hearing the case on a day to day basis, but also demanding CBI probe asserting that the Kathua case was a "conspiracy hatched to defame and demonise Hindus of Jammu and paint them as rapist or pro-rapists."
The plea of the defence lawyers is that CBI probe into the case alone could bring out the truth, nab the real culprits, and save the innocents from harassment and persecution.
Even on Sunday, Ankur Sharma, who has been defending one of the accused, held a press conference in Jammu and urged the state Governor, NN Vohra, to hand over the case to the CBI, saying that the poor "Bakerwal girl's murder was a planned jihadi murder". He further said that the case was "aimed at causing migration of the 70-odd people from Rassana and grab the massive forest area for nefarious purposes".
"A CBI probe alone could bring culprits to justice, save the innocents from harassment and expose the conspirators," Ankur Sharma emphatically said.
He linked the case to former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's February 14, 2018 directions to "Revenue Magistrate and police not to disturb or dislocate the encroachers (members of tribal Gujjar and Bakerwal communities) from the state, forest and other lands in Jammu which they had illegally occupied". His refrain was that the former CM's directions were aimed at "accelerating the ongoing demographic invasion of Jammu".
"The Rassana case was a deep-rooted conspiracy. It would be in the interest of administration of justice if the CBI investigates the whole case and tell the country what exactly was the truth, who really were the culprits and what was the real motive behind the murder of the poor Bakerwal girl in the month of January 2018," said Sharma, adding that the state Governor had all the authority to take any decision and appreciate the public feeling by ordering a CBI probe into the case. |
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